It’s easy to complain about stuff. In fact, without trying to hard, you can find something wrong with almost everything. So, when one stops to think about it, complaining doesn’t take much skill, art, or imagination. And yet, everyone seems to want to outdo everyone else in their powers of complaint. Why is this? What is it about our culture that makes complaining so ubiquitous? What is it about our lives that make us unable to appreciate the good and instead focus on the negative?

If you are reading this, most likely you live in the United States – the most prosperous and richest nation in the world. According to some researchers, even the poorest Americans are richer than 99% of the world’s population. Yet, we still grumble, bitch, and moan.

We attribute our lack of happiness to our employers, our spouses, or our government. We seem to think that if we made more money, had a better job, or had lower taxes, our lives would suddenly become pristine journey’s of joy. I don’t believe this is true however. I don’t think higher wages, a better boss, or the perfect government is going to solve your problems. Indeed, the issues of happiness probably go much deeper than this – and I’m not going to try to address them here. However, I would like to propose one simple idea that we can all employ to better our home, work, and social lives.